Ros Canter and Rehy Royal Diamond have taken the early lead in the Bramham Horse Trials dressage in the CCI4*-L section. The combination were second into the arena in the first session of dressage and they scored 29.8.
“He was a good boy. He can be quite hot in the dressage so to go in there and hold it together was really good,” Ros said after her Bramham Horse Trials dressage test. “The movements and stuff he does at home is of exceptional quality, now it’s just a case of trying to always get the balance right when we get in there.”
The 11-year-old, owned by Christopher and Jane Makin, performed a solid test, bar the gelding shaking his head a couple of times.
“I don’t know why he shook his head – he’s never done that before so he must have had an itch in his ear,” explained Ros. “I think he did it just before he went in and then he did it a few times in there, but that’s horses for you, isn’t it?”
Ros Canter and Rehy Royal Diamond at Bramham 2022. Credit: Peter Nixon
Speaking of being drawn early to go in the competition, Ros said: “Is being early to go good? Yes and no, I mean, who knows? You never know with horses what they’re going to pull out but it’s quite nice in a way as the dressage takes quite a bit of work with him, so he’s got plenty of time to recover now before the cross-country.”
Ros said that in preparation for Bramham, Rehy Royal Diamond has had some quieter runs.
“He’s quite a big horse for me cross-country so we keep things steady just before the big one. But he’s been really good as we’ve had some really good training sessions.”
At this early stage of the competition, Ireland’s Susie Berry and Monbeg By Design are in second on 33.9.
Keep up-to-date with all the action from Bramham via horseandhound.co.uk and read the full magazine report in the 16 June issue of Horse & Hound
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